Accent Fitness

Oh Old La Honda: Almost 50 mile Sunday Bike Loop

This was somewhat of an epic journey.  I set out on the first bike ride of 2010, in fact the first bike ride since the Scott Tinley's triathlon back in October.

I wanted to do around 30 miles. I found a ride on www.mapmyride.com which indicated going up Alpine Rd to Skyline.  I had previously been up Alpine almost to the top but then came back down.  So I thought it would be interesting to go all the way through. 

I started the ride on Alpine and made my way to the top.  However, there was no way to get across to Skyline..I should have listened to the signs which indicated road closed.  So I went back down Alpine and was cruising Portola when I passed Old La Honda Road.  I heard lots of stories about how tough a climb it is so I figured, what the heck, let's try it.  Man, it was a tough one...around 35 minutes UPHILL for an elevation gain of 1400 ft in 3 miles.

I finally reached Skyline and then was left with a quandary of where to do.  Of course, no cell signal so I had no way to review my choices. I decided to head up Skyline, not realizing that it would be another 5 miles up hill.  By the time I passed Woodside, I basically committed myself to going all of the way to the 92.  I didn't realize it would be another 10ish miles until that point.  By the time I reach 92, I was so over it.  I flew down and got onto Canada, which was closed to traffic for the Sunday riders.  I plowed down with the sole intent on getting back as fast as possible.  That is definitely a good motivation factor.

So that's the story how the first ride of the season goes!  It really is like the saying 'it's like riding a bike' again..it's that easy.

BIKE: 47.68 mi, 03:28. Elevation gain: 5515.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24195755

First week of February 2010 workouts

2/1

• BIKE: Spin & Lift class. 60 min.
• RUN: 3 miles treadmill

2/2

• SWIM: Master swim class.

2/3

• BIKE: Spin class. 60 min. Taught class
• • Anaerobic and threshold intervals.
• RUN: 2 miles treadmill

2/4

• RUN: 4 miles. treadmill
• SWIM: 60 min. Master swim class.

2/5

• SWIM: 60 min. Master swim class. Sprint set

2/6

• SWIM: 90 min. Master swim class
• • 10 x 50s
  • 200 kick
  • 200 pull
  • 100 IM
  • 3 x 200 +5
  • 4 x 50s (easy, hard, easy, hard)
  • 3 x 200 pace
  • 4 x 50s (easy, hard, easy, hard)
  • 3 x 200 -5
  • 4 x 50s (easy, hard, easy, hard)
  • 100 easy
• RUN: 5K treadmill

Marlene is officially a National Academy of Sports Medicine(NASM) Certified Personal Trainer

FINALLY!!!

After signing up for this certification program in between computer jobs last May, I had the best intentions of studying and taking the exam within the 120 day period. But somehow, the books remained mostly closed and the weeks and months flew by.  I even took the books on three separate vacations with the thought that I would study in my 'free' time.  Ha, like that was going to happen! 

I purchased an extension which would cover up to December.  But that window came and went with no studying even attempted!  So then it was onto the last extension.  I figured the only option was to suck it up, buckle down and study 3 months of materials in 2 weeks during my almost non-existent free time.  So I grabbed the books out, registered myself for the test and started cramming.  I spent almost every 'spare' minute after Madison's bedtime and during naps on the weekends cramming on the study material.  And I am happy to report that it all paid off with a passing grade on the 2 hour exam!

Check on the certification here: National Academy of Sports Medicine(NASM) Certified Personal Trainer

I also received the AFAA and ACE Personal Trainer certifications back in the early 2000s.  NASM seems to be the latest most popular and highly accredited one so it will be good to have this under my belt.

PR on Golden Gate Park 10K Race! 49:20 finish

RUN RACE: 10K (6.2 miles). 42:20 minutes (unofficial time).

Yippee!  I finally feel satisfied with my performance in a run-only event.  I was pretty disappointed with the last 10K(Turkey Trot) in November since my time was worse than some of my triathlon 10K run times..with you would think makes no sense. But I knew that I blew that race because I ran out too hard at a pace I could not keep up.  Here was the formula for good results for this race:

Good warmup: I was waiting for the doors to open at PAC at 7am today.
    •    2 miles total
    ◦    5 minutes walk
    ◦    Easy jog @ 6.0 mph
    ◦    Last mile, 5 x :30 pickups at race pace

Good nutrition:
    •    Instead of only having cytomax like I usually do prior to an early AM run, I had enough time to eat real breakfast (egg,cheese, english muffin) and digest it fully before the 9AM start time.
    •    On the drive up to the city, I drank 16 oz of cytomax
    •    Around mile 3.5, I consumed one Gu energy gel

Good Pacing:

• I knew that I would have to hold back and not fly out of the start gate at a pace which I could not hold for 10K.
• So I resisted the urge to go faster and kept the pace around 8:00 min/mile (7.5 miles per hour).
• On the downhills, I would allow myself to go a little faster.. up to 8 mph but no more than that
• On the uphills, I tried to focus on the incline instead of worrying about the speed
• It was an uphill finish and I was able to hold it pretty well towards the end.

All in all, it was definitely a great race. I knew that 8:00min/mile pace was the best I could do for a 10K and I achieved that!

Marlene's Golden Gate Park 10K Race

2nd Raining week workouts

We were plagued with more rain this last week.  It was a good training week tho.  I dropped the volume down a bit from 2 weeks ago but a little higher than last week.  On Sunday, I have the 10K DSE Runners club race Golden Gate park.

1/25

• BIKE: Spin & Lift class. 60 min.
• RUN: 3 miles treadmill

1/26

• SWIM: Master swim class.
• BIKE: Spin class. 60 min

1/27

• BIKE: Spin class. 60 min. Taught class
• • Race simulation class.  12 mile in 35 min @ race pace
• RUN: 2 miles treadmill incline

1/28

• SWIM: 60 min. Master swim class. 3300 yrd

1/29

• SWIM: 60 min. Master swim class. 3300 yrd
• • Sprint set
  • • 5 x 50 [hard 1,3,5]
    • easy 50
    • 5 x 50 [hard 1,2,4,5]
    • easy 50
    • 5 x 50 [hard 1,2,3,4,5]
    • easy 50
• RUN: 5K treadmill. 26 min.

End of the month swim workout (round 2)

Today's workout was almost the same as the end of year workout last month.  I guess it is a monthly thing in Kevin's master class.  Anyways, I loved it again.  Was not sure I was going to be able to hang since it was day 3 in a row of swimming but I fared well leading the whole set again.

SWIM: 90 mins. ~ 5000 yrd.

• 300 warmup
• 10 x 50 +:10
• 200 kick
• 200 pull
• 100 IM
• Main set
• • 5 x 100 +:05
  • easy 100 +:20
  • 4 x 100 pace
  • easy 100 +:20
  • 3 x 100 -:05
  • easy 100 +:20
  • 2 x 100 -:10
  • easy 100
  • 1 x 100 -:15
  • easy 100
• 500 pull
• 6 x 50 (stroke/free) +:10
• 100 for time
• easy 50
• 2 x 50 (+5 in between)
• easy 50
• 4 x 25 (+5 in between) 
• easy 50